Storage Solutions for Waverunners

[ACrews]

What's the best gear any of you guys have found for longer distance riding. My first test run has made me realize how little "useful" storage is available. I'm mainly running into useful places to keep sunscreen, chapstick, cell phone, wallet, etc since that stuff generally will take up the whole compartment rear of the handlebars. Any thing you all have found that works good. Even suggestions on riding gear would be appreciated.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

If you haven't already, pull the styrofoam insert out of the area below the handle bars. It frees up quite a bit more room in that compartment.

 

[Julian]

I think @veedubtek has done some mods on ski storage....

 

[ACrews]

If you haven't already, pull the styrofoam insert out of the area below the handle bars. It frees up quite a bit more room in that compartment.

Yeah, I looked at doing that, but I liked trying to keep stuff sort of organized so I can find it.

Learned a lot from my first long trip Sunday. I've realized the cup holder on top of dash is useless in choppy water. That's another reason for keeping my organizer in place.

I mounted my Garmin to top of glove box lid. It works great there, but the marine mount they offer sucks. Hit a wave hard enough & it'll go flying. Fortunately, I caught it with my leg against the seat. I turned it off once we stopped for lunch to save the battery & that was the last time it worked. 3rd Garmin I've owned & 3rd one I've had problems with. West Marine has ordered a replacement, so I'm gonna try it one more time. If the next one fails, I believe I'm going with Lowrance or Raymarine.

And DEFINITELY taking hose off water spout before it gets rode again.

 

[veedubtek]

Cup holder up top is perfect for a good GPS w/ ram mount.

 

[ACrews]

Cup holder up top is perfect for a good GPS w/ ram mount.

Absolutely, cause it's useless for anything else. Do you have any detailed photos of how you did yours? I suck at electrical work, but really liking the Raymarine Dragonfly & the Lowrance Hook series.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

Absolutely, cause it's useless for anything else. Do you have any detailed photos of how you did yours? I suck at electrical work, but really liking the Raymarine Dragonfly & the Lowrance Hook series.

It's definitely useless while moving, but it's a great spot to put a cold beverage in while resting on the water. I used it a whole lot last year. You'll find yourself using it as temporary storage/resting spot for many items (sunblock, phone, drinks, etc.) if you spend a lot of time on the water.

 

[ACrews]

It's definitely useless while moving, but it's a great spot to put a cold beverage in while resting on the water. I used it a whole lot last year. You'll find yourself using it as temporary storage/resting spot for many items (sunblock, phone, drinks, etc.) if you spend a lot of time on the water.

It works great on the river by the house to hold my cup, but not so much in more open water with chop. Put in at Jacksonville Sunday morning & rode down to Palm Coast. 113 miles round trip. Great ride, but didn't have anywhere to keep my drink. I had the glove box full.

 

[swatski]

What's the best gear any of you guys have found for longer distance riding. My first test run has made me realize how little "useful" storage is available. I'm mainly running into useful places to keep sunscreen, chapstick, cell phone, wallet, etc since that stuff generally will take up the whole compartment rear of the handlebars. Any thing you all have found that works good. Even suggestions on riding gear would be appreciated.

I have heard that jet skis going to Exumas last year had PLENTY of storage space.


In @Andy S's Cobalt, LOL.
Sorry, couldn't help myself!

--

 

[AndyD]

We had one of these when we had our SeaDoos. Great cooler rack that holds fishing rods as well. They also make gas cans that mount to each side as well like saddle bags for long distance travel. We used it to carry the cooler of food and drinks but then it also gave us a great flat spot to stack chairs, umbrellas, and other larger things that we could strap to the top of it to keep the storage bins cleared up for other things.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00E764R3Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493148832&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=jet+ski+cooler+rack&dpPl=1&dpID=41x5QcqocIL&ref=plSrch

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

I have heard that jet skis going to Exumas last year had PLENTY of storage space.


In @Andy S's Cobalt, LOL.
Sorry, couldn't help myself!

--

That is a true story! I couldn't have done it without them! Some of best water and cold Gatorade I've ever drank came off @Andy S boat.

 

[veedubtek]

Yeah, we've got the racks as well as well as the rotopax cans and they do come in handy. Can kinda see my GPS in this picture as well Alan

 

[ACrews]

What size rotopax did y'all go with? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't ya say the feet would dig into the deck on our skis without some sort of reinforcement? @veedubtek

 

[veedubtek]

3 gallons per side

And yeah. Look closely at the pic. I made little starboard platforms to strap it down to to help disperse the pressure. Never an issue after that

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

@ACrews is this in preparation of a crossing or just local running around. If for local running around I think the racks are nice for coolers, etc. If for ocean riding, I would encourage you to limit what you have strapped down. It's amazing how the ocean moves items you can't budge on local lakes. If you're thinking about carrying extra fuel to Bimini, I wouldn't worry about that. I will not carry extra fuel to Bimini this year. IMO if you need extra fuel in an FX for Bimini you're either riding way to slow or you left in conditions you shouldn't be in. Even on the 2015 crossing that took over 4 hours my SeaDoo with a smaller tank made it without fueling (although it was very very tight) and I'm pretty sure JROD's FX made it with no problem.

 

[ACrews]

Oh no @Ramblin Wreck. Only for local cruising. Not sure I'd want the extra worry of having all that extra stuff for a Bimini crossing.

On a side note, I'm very impressed with the Yamaha's fuel economy...even the supercharged ones. Of the 20+ skis that were on trip Sunday, only about 4 of us were Yamaha. All of the supercharged Sea-Doos were already on the low fuel buzzer by time we got to restaurant. Yamahas were at half tank.

 

[robert843]

@veedubtek did this to his ski I cant find the thread where he actually had pictures of the finished project though. Based on your wants and needs storage wise though sounds like the simple solution would be to get a boat my ski has a ton of storage so I have not had to add any.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/expanding-storage-options.9641/